On 24 June 2025, after 7 years as the Controller and Auditor-General of New Zealand, Niue and Tokelau, and Secretary-General of PASAI, John Ryan shared in a webinar his reflections and thoughts about the public financial management (PFM) system in the Pacific. In the webinar he focused particularly on the challenges that Pacific SAIs face and what needs to be done so they can perform their roles effectively for the people of the Pacific.
This paper preserves much of what he expressed in that webinar and provides a resource for those working within, and with power to enable, the PFM system. It does this by suggesting where effort needs to be focused to strengthen the system. It also highlights our work supporting SAIs to address the issues they face. Finally, it presents insights on opportunities for others to partner with us to deal with weaknesses and improve accountability by Pacific governments to their people.
A recording of the webinar is also available. This, and other reports, are on our Regional reports page.
